Our People

Christopher co-founded Cygnus Capital in 2010 to focus on investments in opportunistic and distressed real estate instruments and take advantage of the vast market opportunities in this space. He was the driving force behind the formation of the company and its “family” of investment funds.
From 2008 to 2013, Christopher was a Portfolio Manager at SAC Capital Advisors in Stamford, CT where he managed a $750 million long/short equity portfolio focused primarily on the global technology sector and secondarily on Asia as a geography. His gross returns significantly outpaced the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index over his tenure at SAC while averaging less than 20% net exposure to the market.
Prior to SAC, Christopher worked at GMT Capital Corporation (“GMT”) for five years, initially as an analyst and later as a sector head, leading the firm’s investments in the technology sector as a well as establishing and leading the fund’s Hong Kong office.
Prior to GMT, Christopher founded two successful software companies and raised over $35 million in venture capital to support each company’s growth. Directly after business school, he was an associate at McKinsey & Co. where he was engaged in a number of strategic reorganization projects, primarily in the financial services industry. Christopher also spent 4 years in Germany and Russia working in senior marketing and sales positions for Millicom International and a division of Merck & Co.
Christopher received a dual M.B.A. and M.A. in International Studies from the Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his undergraduate studies at Duke University, receiving a B.A. in Political Science and Public Policy.

Andy co-founded Cygnus Capital in 2010 and is responsible for managing and directing the day to day acquisition, renovation/repositioning and financing activities of Cygnus Property Fund V. He also served a similar role for all the previous Cygnus Funds.
Andy has been a real estate investor/owner for the past 15 years. Prior to his career in real estate, Andy was employed by a large regional financial institution where he was responsible for the placement of over $1 billion in debt/equity investments with local, regional, and national real estate operators. Following his career in finance, Andy joined Atlanta-based Miles Properties (“MPI”) as Director of Acquisitions/Dispositions. While at MPI, Andy was responsible for the acquisition and disposition of assets in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions, as well as in Texas and Colorado. Via the Cygnus Funds and personal investments, he holds ownership interests in over 8,000 multi-family units in the Southeast. In addition, Andy served as a principal in DCCH Construction a Houston, Texas-based luxury homebuilder.
Andy holds a B.A. in Economics and an M.B.A. from Louisiana State University. He is a member of the National Multi Housing Council, the Urban Land Institute and the Atlanta Apartment Association.

John Lyons joined Cygnus in October 2017 with experience in accounting and information systems management. From 2014 to 2017, John co-owned an affiliated company, Cygnus Association Management, LLC (“CAM”), which managed homeowners associations and residential real estate developments. At its peak, CAM managed eight associations, including four that were owned by Cygnus or one of the Funds. Prior to his time at CAM, John was a Senior Associate at PwC in its Advisory Practice, where he specialized in risk and governance, performance improvement, and project management. John also has worked as an assistant broker specializing in commercial real estate for Marcus and Millichap in the Southeast. He started out in the real estate industry as a closing assistant and title specialist at Wisconsin Title Closing & Credit Services. John holds a BBA from Emory University with concentrations in Finance and Information Systems.

Collin joined the Cygnus Capital team in August 2022 as an Acquisition Associate. In this position, he assists in property due diligence, loan and acquisition closing, sourcing and underwriting potential acquisitions. He also leads the investment analysis research and report generation used for investment committee decisions. Prior to joining Cygnus, Collin was a senior associate at Newmark in their Valuation & Advisory practice. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Real Estate from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

Alec joined Cygnus Capital in September 2021 as a quantitative analyst for the Opportunity Fund portfolio. Prior to Cygnus, Alec was an analyst at Gas South in the Supply & Risk Management department. He received both a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and a M.S. in Quantitative and Computational Finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Mary joined Cygnus Capital in 2021 as a Portfolio Analyst with a focus on fundamental analysis. In this role, she performs equity valuations, conducts market research, and assists in developing investment strategies. She received a B.S. in Industrial Design and a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Bill O’Herron is a partner and Director of Capital Markets at Cygnus. Bill has 30+ years of institutional research sales/trading and capital raising experience, having lead sales teams at Refco and Salomon Brothers in London, as well as at smaller, independent research and capital markets teams like Access Pointe and Ascendant Capital. Over the course of his career, Bill has developed an appreciation and understanding of alternative investments that have helped to build strong relationships within the industry’s largest global, long-short and traditional fund management firms. Bill earned a BA in English from Middlebury College and a Master of Science degree from Columbia University.

AJ joined Cygnus in September 2022. He began his career at Duncan-Williams working in their Capital Markets division as a fixed-income analyst and sales-trader covering institutions across the Midwest. His true passion is building lasting relationships with people to help improve each other’s lives. He is a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College and holds a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. He was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and was a 4-yr letter earner and starting catcher on the Men’s Varsity baseball team that played in the 2019 Division III World Series Final against Chapman. AJ is from Memphis but now lives in Atlanta.

Dipo, CPA, joined Cygnus Capital in May of 2018, bringing with him over 10 years of real estate and investment management industry experience. Dipo was previously employed at State Street Global Services, as a Fund Controller, where he managed three closed-end real estate funds totaling $4 billion in committed capital. Prior to State Street, he was a Portfolio Accountant at Starwood Capital Group and was responsible for managing a diverse real estate portfolio comprised of various asset classes totaling $1 billion. Dipo’s real estate career began at Gables Residential where he held various positions ranging from Property Accountant to Internal Auditor.
Dipo holds a B.S. in Accounting from Northeastern University, where he also played as a four-year member of the Division I Men’s Basketball Team. Dipo is currently a member of the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants and is a licensed CPA in the state of Georgia.

Mandy joined the Cygnus team in May of 2016 as a Senior Accountant and has since been promoted to Accounting Supervisor. Mandy is the head accountant of Cygnus Property Fund II and will also serve in the same capacity for Cygnus Property Fund V. Prior to Cygnus, Mandy worked as a Staff Accountant for a pharmaceutical management company that oversaw and maintained the accounting records for the management company as well as 5 other inter-companies. Mandy graduated from Georgia State University/J. Mack Robinson College of Business with a B.S. in Accounting.

Heather Patterson joined Cygnus Capital in October 2013 as an Assistant Property Manager. Her main responsibilities included working onsite at Cygnus held properties to collect rents, handle resident issues, and assist in managing office staff. In December 2016, Heather transitioned to her current role in the corporate office. She brings with her over 10 years of experience having held various positions in the industry including Leasing Consultant, Assistant, and Property Manager.

Lisa joined the Cygnus team in March of 2023 as Accounting Supervisor overseeing Snake River Sporting Club, a luxury resort and residential community set on 1,000 acres in Wyoming. This includes accounting for lot sales, hospitality, HOA, ISD and day-to-day club activities/sales.  Lisa also overseas integration and implementation of any additional accounting software’s Cygnus Capital may need starting with their new Hospitality Software Track. Lisa comes from over 10 years of Multifamily Real Estate Accounting experience overseeing 4 Senior Accountants with a combined unit count of around 9,000. Lisa Graduated from GA Southern University with a B.S in Finance minoring in Information Systems.